Indigenous Peoples’ Day

The Heard Museum community invites you to join us in commemorating Indigenous Peoplesâ€™ Day with a day of programming dedicated to the Indigenous communities and voices of Arizona. As we celebrate the first full year of recognizing Indigenous Peoplesâ€™ Day in the City of Phoenix, we are honored to share with you the cultural richness of Indigenous peoples throughout Indian Country â€“ this year focusing on the power and prominence of Indigenous voices and the preservation of tribal language. Join us and celebrate through dance, music, dialogue, food, art and film

This event is FREE and open to the public. Museum admission required to view exhibitions. Admission free for American Indian visitors with tribal ID.

Events

11:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. â€“ Indigenous Peoplesâ€™ Day â€“ Family Fun!

Bring the family to enjoy a day of exciting activities the whole family can enjoy!

Scavenger hunts to enjoy throughout the museum galleries (turn these in at the Childrenâ€™s Courtyard for a prize).

Play the video game Never Alone on a giant screen in Steele Auditorium! Never Alone – Kisima Ingitchuna is the first game developed in collaboration with the IĂ±upiat, an Alaska Native people. Nearly 40 Alaska Native elders, storytellers and community members contributed to the development of the game. Play as a young IĂ±upiat girl and an Arctic fox as they set out to find the source of the eternal blizzard which threatens the survival of everything they have ever known.

12:30 p.m. – Steele Auditorium
Official welcome with a blessing and dance by students from the Gila Crossing Community School Culture Club

12:45 p.m. – Steele AuditoriumKeynote speaker Arlene Joyce Hughes (Akimel Oâ€™otham)
Hughes is the 2017 Spirit of the Heard Awardee and will speak to the importance of Indigenous language retention and her work in that effort within the Gila River Indian Community.

Evening Programming

FILM & DISCUSSION

7 p.m. – Steele AuditoriumFilm: 7th Voice (Sakowin Ho) by Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute)
Indigenous youth living in the Bismark/Mandan/Standing Rock areas gathered together in the nearly year-long #NoDAPLÂ movement to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. Watch as they find their voices and become the 7th generation, the generation that will be the guiding force of Indigenous change.

7:50 p.m. – Steele Auditorium
Gregg Deal (Pyramid Lake Paiute) will lead a discussion following the screening on Indigenous Identity and pop culture, touching on issues of race relations, historical considerations and stereotypes.

Gregg Deal

Tony Duncan and Darrin Yazzie

Arlene Joyce Hughes

The Heard Museum thanks the following community partners for their support in Indigenous Peoplesâ€™ Day at the Heard:

Our Mission

The mission of the Heard Museum is to be the worldâ€™s preeminent museum for the presentation, interpretation and advancement of
American Indian art, emphasizing its intersection with broader artistic and cultural themes.